Proposed terror tipsters wary of their new role

The men and women who drive SNET vans, install cable TV, and fix kitchen drains have seen it all, from chopped-up car parts on the dining room floor, to crack pipes on the coffee table, to the paranoid residents who just smoked out of them.

JOSEPH STRAW

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, August 4, 2002

"When you knock on someone's door, you never know what you're going to be subjected to," said Paul Hongo, head of the union that represents roughly 4,000 telecommunications filed workers statewide.

"You're lucky if it's only an angry dog," Hongo said.

So from an investigative standpoint, it made some sense when the Justice Department announced plans to ask the nation's utility, mail, and parcel workers to serve as additional eyes and ears in the new war on terror.

The proposal, however, called Operation TIPS, short for the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, drew a sharp backlash from civil libertarians, right-to privacy advocates, and others across the Constitutional spectrum.

Late last month, the plan took a blow when the U.S. Postal Service tentatively declined to participate.

The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, chaired by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn. is considering the bill to establish a federal department of homeland security, which would run the program

Legislators on both sides of the aisle - U.S. Rep. Dick Armey, D-Tex., and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Lieberman to place a rider on the bill prohibiting the would be-agency from implementing TIPS.

Lieberman, however, likes Operation TIPS, which a Justice Department official said will not take on the form first described on the agency's website, a description that spawned the current storm.

The TIPS program, planned to begin in late Summer or early Fall, will be limited to industries such as trucking, rail, and the seafaring trades, with the aim of alerting law enforcement of threats on the nation's byways and infrastructure.

"We're in the process of trying to correct any misinformation about the program. It's not about workers going into homes," said the Justice Department official, who asked she not be identified by name.

"The program will not include workers that are going door-to-door. It's not about workers going door-to-door. It's about workers in a position to observe situations in a public setting," the officials.

The TIPS program, and its cornerstone hotline number, will be publicized and disseminated throughout the industries, and workers free to participate as they see fit.

"At that point it is still purely voluntary," the official said.

And the plan is still not set in stone, she said.

"This is ongoing program development. We want to make sure everyone is comfortable with the program, particularly Congress," the Justice Department official said.

Theresa Younger, head of the state's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, speculated that without the public outcry of recent weeks, the program would have come into being as originally described.

"If it hadn't been for Dick Armey, we would be looking at the TIPS program as it was introduced," Younger said.

TIPS or no TIPS, Larry Pinsky, a New Havenplumber with Instant Plumbing of Connecticut, said that simple logic dictates his actions.

"If I see senior citizens that are really struggling, I help out. If I see someone mistreating animals, I let someone know. If I saw somebody making bombs, of course I would let someone know, if they were dumb enough to leave the stuff out in the open," Pinsky said.

Hongo said that while the TIPS program asks workers to look for suspicious activity, in actuality it is often the workers themselves who are considered suspicious by customers, and are therefore in peril.

"There has always been a suspicion on the street of the workers, whether it's the cable guy, the CL&P guy, or the meter reader, that they're narcotics cops," Hongo said.

"If the Bush administration were to come up with something like this, it only puts our guys under more suspicion and in jeopardy," Hongo said.

Some companies that might have been the executors of TIPS as originally proposed have been anything but enthusiastic about the proposal.

Representatives of the areas two main cable television providers, Comcast and Cablevision, turned down an opportunity to comment on the TIPS program, as did a spokesman for the delivery company Airborne Express.

Vanessa Smith, a spokeswoman for the United Parcel Service, did comment.

"We don't support it, and we never said we'd participate," Smith said.

Jennifer McGowan, a spokeswoman for Federal Express, said that FedEx workers are instructed to be vigilant, but first to respect customers' privacy.

"Our couriers, we ask them to remain alert and aware of their surroundings. If they do come across any suspicious activity, they're instructed to notify Federal Express Management," McGowan said.

"They are not encouraged to give out information about customers. Much to the contrary. We respect the privacy of our customers to the highest degree possible," McGowan said.

Area residents asked about homeland security said that they wholeheartedly support the Bush Administration's blanket call for "vigilance" in the days that followed Sept. 11.

Some, however, said that vigilance, can stop at their front door.

"I'm vigilant. And I can still be vigilant without saying, 'I saw a roach on your table,'" said Paul Desiderio, 60, of Guilford.

"I think what a person does in their own home should be private, and not subject to surreptitious surveillance," Desiderio said.

Dr. Thezlay S. Alpizar, 27, of Bridgeport, who has a practice in West Haven, said her concern is disclosure to homeowners.

"I tend to believe it's an invasion of privacy. If it's their property, they should be aware what's going on," Alpizar said.

Vishal Sharan, 29, of New Haven, said he's not bothered by he concept snooping utility and parcel workers.

"If the cable guy comes to you, you let him in anyway. He's not going to get private information about your life. He's just going to get specific information that you would get anyway," Sharan said.

The city business operators that will most likely participate in TIPS if it is implemented, said their workers already have their eyes and ears open, and are poised to act when suspicious activity occurs.

Ronald Esposito of Westchester Motor Lines, on East Shore Parkway said that federal literature about homeland security and incident reporting has been distributed to his truck drivers.

Darrald Atwood, director of health and safety for Logsitec, which runs the bulk terminal at the city's port, said that emergency protocols, and a phone number are already in place there.

"For the most part, if we see something suspicious going on, we dial 9-1-1 like everyone else does," Atwood said.

Hank Wawryck, a port captain with Miller Marine Services on Mill Street, said that his company's workers have monitored the harbor closely along with the Coast Guard since soon after Sept. 11, and they welcome the TIPS program.

"We have been working with them, and luckily, it's been quiet," Wawryck said.